Improvement in stocking-supporters



W. F. GEORGE. Stocking-$11pporten No. 208,387. 5 Patented Sept. 2.4, 1878.

fizz altar 8 m m W NJFEIEHS, PHOTO-UTHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON. D C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM F. GEORGE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN STOCKING-SUPPORTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 208,387. dated September 24, 1878; application filed July 11, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM. F. GEORGE, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Stocking- Supporters; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to that class of stocking-supporters by means of which stockings are suspended from the waist instead of being held up by garters clasping the legs.

The invention has for its object the supply of a stocking-supporter in which the weight of the stocking, or the tension of the straps which connect the stockings with the waistband, shall not only be distributed over the hips, as has been heretofore done, but in which the pieces which fit and rest upon the hips shall retain their places and adjust themselves comfortably to the varying exterior form of the hips in all positions of the person, whether standing, walking, sitting, or reclining.

It is well known that the exterior contour of the hips varies greatly in difierent positions of the body and limbs relatively to each other, and that hip-pieces made of rigid and inelastic material will not, if fitted to the hips in one position, cover and fit the hips accurately and comfortably in any other position.

So far as I am aware, no attempt at obviating this objection in stocking-supporters has been made, except to gain a slight degree of adaptability in the hip-pieces by cutting the same in one piece with the waistband and on abias; but this does not give the relief required, and such supporters have not, to my knowledge, ever come into general use.

Another difficulty in this class of supporters has been that no provision for the adjustment of the waistband bytaking it up or shortening it behind as well as in front of the person has been provided. As a consequence these articles have, to some extent, to be remade after their purchase before they can be worn in such manner as to bring the hip-pieces into proper relation with the hips.

It is a further obj ect of my invention to supply an easy means of adjusting the length of the waistband both before and behind, and

thereby to place these goods in market in such form that no change in their construction is needed to fit them to any person, but only a simple adjustment.

The invention consists in a stocking-sup.- porter composed of an inelastic waistband divided at the front and rear to form two parts, the ends of such divided portions being provided with adjusting devices, and the waist band being constructed with hip-pieces composed of, inelastic border-strips, and elastic triangular-shaped insertion-pieces filling the space between the border-strips, the two sections of the waistband permitting the parts to be adjusted in the rear and front to adapt the supporter and hip-pieces. to differently-sized persons, all of which will be fully hereinafter described.

Figure l in the drawing represents my improved stocking-supporter applied to the person as when in use. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a stocking-supporter constructed in accordance with my invention and detached from the person.

The waistband is constructed in two parts, A and A. To the said waistband are attached the hip-pieces B, preferably made of triangular form, as shown. The said hip-pieces are preferably made of two inelastic border-straps, d cl, with a central inserted elastic piece, 0, of knitted fabric, india-rubber elastic, or any other elastic fabric suitable to the purpose, and which has sufficient elasticity and resilience to adapt itself to the more or less projecting trochanter major or process on the thigh-bone, which forms the projection of the hip-joint.

Attached to and depending from the said hip-pieces are straps D D, the said straps D being provided at their lower ends with fastenings f f for the attachment of the same to the stockings to be supported. The said straps D are preferably attached to the straps D by adjustable fastenings g but these straps form no part of the present improvement.

The two parts A and A of the waistband are united when in use by front and back adjustable fastenings h it. These fasteningsform a ready means of adjusting the hip-pieces in due relation with each other and the hips of the person who wears them, that they may rest easily, accurately, and comfortably upon the hips, which the elasticity of the said hippieces causes them to fit in any position of the wearer, whether standing, walking, sitting or reclining.

The central parts of the said hip-pieces, by virtue of their elasticity, form pockets for the reception of the projecting part of the hipjoints, and thus prevent the displacement of the stocking-supporter, which, as hitherto constructed, has been very liable to become dis placed and incommode the wearer.

I am well aware that stocking-supporters have been constructed with hip-pieces formed of inelastic material, and that it has been sought to make the said hip-pieces adapt themselves to the hip-joints by cutting the same on a bias.

I am also aware that the waistband of a stocking-supporter has been provided with depending pieces, with an intervening space between them, intended to fit over the hips and the spaces designed to prevent the band being drawn out of position around the waist, and such I disclaim.

What I consider as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is expressed in the following claim:

As a new article of manufacture, a stockingsupporter consisting of a waistband divided at the front and rear to form two parts, A A, and such divided portions provided with adjusting devices, the waistband being constructed with hip-pieces B, composed of inelastic border-strips b and elastic triangular insertion-pieces O.

W. F. GEORGE.

Witnesses:

OWEN PRENTISS, T. J. KEANE. 

